When There’s No Getting Over It, Get Through It

The story of the prodigal son should be renamed “Two Lost Brothers.” The sin of the older brother is his refusal to hit bottom and accept his father’s ways. Hitting bottom solves self-fragmentation, worry, and regret. It’s also a reality check. Growth and change get us through life’s problems. When we stop growing, we stop being able to deal with problems.

Show notes:

The definition of complete may sound easy, but if we consider it we will find some parts of us stuck in the past or worried about future—and it’s stressful.
We live in a culture that expects multi-tasking, but that’s not really something we can do.
Evan and Liz discuss the difference between getting over something vs. getting through something.
When we try to get over it, that means we try to forget about it—to downplay it. We may say, “I’m putting it out of my mind.”
But getting through it means walking through whatever it is with Jesus, saying, “I’m choosing to walk through this, hit bottom, and deal with it.”
It also means not getting stuck.
Even when we think we hit bottom, we can continue to dig ourselves deeper, or we can choose for THIS bottom to be deep enough and it’s time to get out.
You do this through surrender and authenticity, etc…
Hitting bottom does involve all three areas of complete: self-fragmentation, stuck in past/worry of future, and engaging with reality.
The prodigal son story really should be called “the two lost brothers.”
Evan talks about how the older brother refuses to hit bottom: he resents his father, sees himself as a slave to his father—he doesn’t see his sin. He only sees the sin of everyone around him.
Liz thinks of the Paolini dragon books called the Inheritance Cycle—how spells become anchored to you unless you become someone else.
Growth and change get us through life’s problems. That’s normal. So when we stop growing, we stop being able to deal with problems/opportunities.

Epic Every Day is available on Radio Public, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Sticher and YouTube.